Ahmed et al. /Int.J.Econ.Environ.Geol.Vol. 11(1) 35-39, 2020 35 Rural Livelihoods and Vulnerability Towards Natural Disasters: An Empirical Exploration from Selected Villages of District Gilgit, Pakistan Israr Ahmed 1 , Rehmat Karim 1,2 , Faqeer Muhammad 1 , Javed Akhter Qureshi 1 , Normah Abdul Latip 2 , Kifayat Ullah 1 , Memoona Nilofar 1 1 Karakoram International University, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan 2 School of Housing, Building and Planning, Univeristi Sains Malaysia *Email: faqeer@kiu.edu.pk Received: 24 December, 2019 Accepted: 24 February, 2020 Abstract: Present study explores livelihoods of rural households and their vulnerability towards natural hazards in three selected villages of district Gilgit, a far-flung mountainous area in north of Pakistan. Data were collected from 180 households by using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Moreover, Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The standard value of LVI ranges from 0 to 1, whereby the higher value of LVI shows higher vulnerability. LVI for each village was calculated using the data of seven components i.e. socio demography, livelihood strategies, social networks, food, health and education, water, natural disasters and climate vulnerability. The results suggest that the rural households of district Gilgit are vulnerable to natural disasters and Gilgit is most vulnerable in food and social network and least vulnerable in terms of demographic profile. Lastly, the overall value of LVI for district Gilgit is 0.34 Keywords: Rural livelihoods, vulnerability, natural disasters, Gilgit, LVI. Introduction Livelihood is an essential part of economic arrangements of households. Livelihood refers to the accessibility of an individual or family to basic needs of life such as sufficient food, water, clothing and shelter. In other words, livelihood encompasses all the basic means of living for a household. It consists of people’s assets, income, capabilities and activities used to secure the necessities of life (Ellis, 1999). Livelihood may be negatively impacted by anomalies or shocks in terms of climate, agriculture, economy, society, politics etc. Poor and deprived people suffer the most in such circumstances because of their limitation to deal with these shocks. According to Shaw et al. (2006), if a person or a society is incapable to cope with the disasters and unable to recover from a shock, such a person or society is termed vulnerable. Vulnerability is a term which is generally used to describe poor quality of social, political and economic lives of the people. It describes those people who are facing hurdles to access the basic needs of life. These are very deprived people who are unable to cope with the shocks and have no or very limited social, political and economic rights (Gurung and Kollmair, 2007). According to Gibson (2006) rural households have more chances to be vulnerable to social, economic and weather shocks. These shocks can hamper development of the poor people and it becomes very difficult for them to come out of poverty. It is a very challenging and long-term job to improve the living standard of the deprived people. Vulnerability is a pressing issue in urban slums and rural areas all over the world. Developing as well as developed countries face this problem. Since the living condition is generally poor in urban slums and rural areas of developing countries, people in these areas are very deprived and face lot of problems (Akhtar and Basher, 2014). Pakistan is also facing the problem of vulnerability specially in rural settings where livelihood is fragile because of dependence on natural forces. In Pakistan, almost 70% of population lives in rural areas (Shera, Jawad and Maqsood, 2007). The livelihood in rural areas is worse, whereby people face severe shortage of food because they are only producing goods for their subsistence due to limited cultivated land and lack of specialization. Farrington et al., (2002) found that vulnerability tends to be high in rural areas as compared to urban areas. Majority of the population of Gilgit-Baltistan is poor and deprived, especially the rural households. People in these areas have limited access to basic necessities of life and are more vulnerable to shocks. On the other hand, less attention has been paid to this area by the government and private sector. From an academic standpoint, limited research has been conducted about rural livelihoods and vulnerability of households to various shocks. Present study is an attempt to understand the nuances of vulnerability juxtaposing natural disasters as one of the major threats to the life and livelihood of dwellers in these rugged mountain areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. The findings of this study will potentially help the government and other organizations to formulate better policies for improving livelihoods and family lives in Gilgit district. Materials and Methods This study covers some important components like socio-demographic profile, social network, health and Copyright © SEGMITE Open Access ISSN: 2223-957X Int. J. Econ. Environ. Geol. Vol. 11 (1) 35-39, 2020 Journal home page: www.econ-environ-geol.org